Robert Samuels

Robert Samuels is an American journalist and staff writer at The Washington Post. He grew up in the Bronx, New York, and is a graduate of Columbia University. He has reported extensively on race, politics, and social inequality for the Post, and his reporting has been recognized with numerous journalism awards. Samuels co-wrote, with Washington Post colleague Toluse Olorunnipa, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice (2022), a biography of George Floyd that traces his life from his Texas roots to his death beneath the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. The book draws on interviews with Floyd's family, friends, teachers, and community members to construct a full portrait of his life and situate his death within broader histories of racism in American policing and society. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction in 2023, and the NAACP Image Award. Samuels continues to report on civil rights and racial justice for The Washington Post.